Steven Runo facts for kids

Steven Runo is a scientist from Kenya. He is a professor at Kenyatta University. Professor Runo studies plant diseases that harm important food crops in Africa. He is well-known for his work on a harmful plant called Striga. In 2020, he won a big award called the Royal Society Africa Prize.

Steven Runo's Early Life and Education

Steven Runo was born in Kenya. He went to Kenyatta University for all his university degrees. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and PhD there.

For his PhD research, Professor Runo moved to the United States. He joined the University of California, Davis. There, he started studying how tiny molecules called RNA move long distances inside plants. He first looked at how a parasitic plant called Cuscuta communicates with tomato plants.

Research and Career in Plant Science

In 2008, Professor Runo returned to Africa. He became a professor at Kenyatta University. He has also been a visiting scientist at the University of Sheffield and University of Virginia.

Fighting the "Cereal Killer" Plant

Professor Runo's main work is finding ways to stop plant diseases that threaten farming in Africa. One of the biggest problems he studies is witchweed, also known as Striga. This plant is a parasite that attacks important food crops like maize and sorghum. Professor Runo calls Striga the "cereal killer" because it destroys these crops.

Striga is a huge problem. It can cost farmers up to $200 million every year. Each Striga plant can make up to 500,000 seeds! These tiny seeds spread easily by wind and water.

How to Stop Striga

Professor Runo has suggested several ways to control Striga:

• Stopping seeds from growing: He looks for ways to prevent the Striga seeds from sprouting.
• Making crops stronger: He tries to find crops that can naturally fight off Striga attacks.
• Reducing seeds in the soil: He works on methods to lower the number of Striga seeds hidden in the ground.

One way to stop germination is by using chemical biology. This involves using small molecules that can block the Striga plant's ability to sense when to grow. He also studies how molecular genetics can help find specific genes that make crops resistant to Striga. To do this, he investigates how RNA molecules move between the parasitic Striga and the crops it attacks.

Helping Crops Survive Drought

Professor Runo is also part of a project called GEMADOT. This project aims to find and create types of maize (corn) that can grow well even when there is not much water. This is very important for preventing food shortages in Africa.

Royal Society Africa Prize

In 2020, Professor Runo received the Royal Society Africa Prize. This award recognized his important work. He was honored for figuring out how RNA molecules travel between parasitic plants and their host plants. He was also recognized for finding and developing ways to study genes that can make crops resistant to parasites.